The Broad Prize for Urban Education goes to the Gwinnett County public school system this year. It’s the largest education prize in the country, honoring large urban school districts with top performing students that also narrow the achievement gap for poor and minority students. The $1 million in prize money will go directly to high school seniors for college scholarships.

Gwinnett Schools won this award for good reason. More than half its students are minorities and half are eligible for the subsidized lunch program. The school system is overcoming the odds for kids in several ways:

Outperforms other schools in Georgia with a similar student profile in reading and math

Cuts the gaps in reading and math scores between African-American and white students at all grade levels

Gets more minority teens to take the SAT, ACT and Advanced Placement exams

The school district is the largest in Georgia with close to 161,000 students this year, according to the school system website.